This lesson includes a demonstration to show why the sky is blue and why sunsets and sunrises are orange. Learners will use scientific practices to investigate answers to questions involving the color of the sky, sunsets, the Sun, and oceans....(View More) Requires a clear acrylic or glass container to hold water, a strong flashlight, and powdered creamer or milk.(View Less)

This is an activity about the Moon's influence on Earth. Learners think like a scientist - with reasoning skills and a healthy amount of skepticism - to sort puzzle pieces containing statements about the Moon into two images. The "Far-out Far Side"...(View More) has incorrect statements about the Moon (urban myths), and "True-Blue Blue Moon" has true facts about the Moon’s influence on Earth and life. This activity is part of Explore! Marvel Moon, a series of activities developed specifically for use in libraries.(View Less)

Learners model how the Moon's volcanic period reshaped its earlier features. The children consider that the broad, shallow impact basins contained cracks through which magma seeped up. A plate in which slits have been cut is used to represent an...(View More) impact basin and a dish of red-colored water is used to represent the pockets of magma within the Moon's upper layers. When the model impact basin is pressed into the "magma," "lava" fills in the low areas through the same process that produced the dark patches, or maria, on the Moon. Children may examine a type of Earth rock (named basalt) that is also found on the Moon and that would have been shaped by the processes explored here. This station investigates the Moon's "teen years," when it was one to three billion years old. This activity is part of Explore! Marvel Moon, a series of activities developed specifically for use in libraries.(View Less)

This is a set of three activities about how scientists study other worlds. Learners will explore and compare the features of Mars and Earth, discuss what the features suggest about the history of Mars, and create a model to help them understand how...(View More) scientists view other worlds. The activities help to show why scientists are interested in exploring Mars for evidence of past life, and address the question: "Why are we searching for life on Mars?" It also includes specific tips within each activity for effectively engaging girls in STEM. This is activity 4 in "Explore: Life on Mars" that was developed specifically for use in libraries.(View Less)

Learners model how impacts throughout the Moon's history have broken rocks down into a mixture of dust, rocks, and boulders that covers the lunar surface. They consider how the dust will continue to hold a record of human exploration - in the form...(View More) of astronaut bootprints - for countless years in the future. Children may examine a type of Earth soil ("lunar soil simulant") that is similar to what is found on the Moon's surface and that would have been shaped by the processes explored here. The children create their own records of exploration by making rubbings of their shoes. This activity is part of Explore! Marvel Moon, a series of activities developed specifically for use in libraries.(View Less)

This is a series of seven brief activities about Jupiter's atmosphere and weather. Learners will look at Jupiter's distinct banded appearance, violent storms, and clouds of many different colors. The activities are part of Explore! Jupiter's Family...(View More) Secrets, a series designed to engage children in space and planetary science in libraries and informal learning environments.(View Less)

This is a collection of outreach resources about the Sun that are meant to be used in informal education settings. This toolkit was originally designed for NASA Night Sky Network member clubs and the Astronomical Society of the Pacific's Astronomy...(View More) from the Ground Up network of museum and science center educators. The toolkit includes background information about the Sun, magnetic fields of the Earth and Sun, and space weather, activity suggestions, and detailed activity scripts. The themes of this toolkit address both the constant nature of the Sun as a reliable source of energy and the dynamic nature of the Sun due to its changing magnetic fields. The activities and related materials in this collection include The Sun in a Different Light - Observing the Sun, Explore the Sun cards, Magnetic Connection, the Space Weather PowerPoint, Protection from Ultraviolet, and Where Does the Energy Come From cards. These activities can be done separately or as a group as part of an informal education event. Institutions that are not part of the Night Sky Network will need to acquire the various materials required for each activity.(View Less)

The 9-session NASA Family Science Night program emables middle school children and their families to discover the wide variety of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics being performed at NASA and in everyday life. Family Science Night...(View More) programs explore various themes on the Sun, the Moon, the Stars, and the Universe through fun, hands-on activities, including at-home experiments. Instructions for obtaining the facilitator's guide are available on the Family Science Night site.(View Less)

This is an activity about albedo, which is a measurement of the reflectance of a planetary surface. Learners will classify areas on an image in terms of albedo values and then sketch their own portion of an image from space. These sketches are...(View More) assembled to view the larger image that the class or group has created. Note: See Related & Supplemental Resources (right side of this page) for a link to download the student pages of this activity.(View Less)

Learners will create a physical timeline of comet appearances in art and literature throughout history. Participants use a set of photos depicting comets in art images and science missions and place the images in chronological order, while learning...(View More) about the perceptions of comets during that time period. Note: Timeline cards that are needed to complete this activity can be found under the Related and Supplemental Resources links on the right side of this page.(View Less)